“I really believe a brand is a living thing and you have to nurture it the way you nurture a child. You can not show it any neglect whatsoever. It’s like an amoeba, it’s continually moving and you have to move in the right direction,” said Tommy Hilfiger during a conversation with Michelle Peluso, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of IBM, at the NRF Tuesday.
Titled, “The Power of Disruption,” Hilfiger gave the packed house insight into how the 33-year-old brand has managed to stay young and spirited, relevant with pop culture and ahead of the pack with technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, a chatbot and the company’s Snap:Shop App. It has also built up a huge following with its TommyNow see-now-buy-now fashion shows in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, London and, up next, Milan.
“Retail was going through a very rocky time, but we were the reverse of that trend. We embraced new technology and were not afraid to take risks,” he said.
Hilfiger gave a short history of his climb from his early days starting People’s Place in upstate New York, which sold clothing, incense and music, to launching his own brand. Stressing authenticity and pop culture roots,
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